My First Vegetable Garden: From Seed to Supper

This spring, I decided to challenge myself by growing vegetables from seed for the very first time.

I started indoors in April with collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, cilantro, basil, and green onion. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was excited to learn.

One of the first lessons I learned? Leggy seedlings.

Even with a grow light, many of my seedlings stretched tall and became thin because my light wasn’t close enough.

Some plants bounced back after transplanting, while others didn’t make it.

As the weather warmed up, I transplanted everything into self-watering planters that I picked up from Lidl. I absolutely loved the size, they fit perfectly on my deck and after seeing how much room they gave my plants to grow, I wished I had bought a few more. I never actually figured out how to use the self-watering feature, so I’’ve been watering by hand.

Watching those tiny seedlings transform into full, leafy plants over the next couple of months was incredibly rewarding. Every new leaf felt like a small victory, especially knowing where they started.

Then came my favorite moment, my first harvest.

There was something special about walking outside with a pair of scissors, harvesting greens that I had started from seed, bringing them inside, washing them and cooking them for dinner that same day. It tasted a little more special because I had grown part of it myself.

Here’s to learning from the mistakes, celebrating the wins and seeking what is harvested!

- Maya & The Spine Down